by A. W. Exley
The older woman glanced at the egg and then dismissed it with a wave. “Don’t be silly, dear. That’s just a trinket. Your uncle was executed because they said he stole an egg—our most precious treasure used to birth a new clan. Soarers have hunted for it for twenty years, but they’ve only found the faintest whispers of where it might be. How sad that it turned out to be a glass paperweight.”
Trixie frowned and looked from Jasper to Elijah. “Why can’t she see it?”
Deep trenches appeared in Jasper’s forehead. “The question is, why can you? Delens worked his trait on it and concealed it from all Soarers. They cannot see it. Like your aunt, they see only a paperweight.”
A slow smile spread over Trixie’s face as she caressed the egg. “I’m not a Soarer anymore. Elijah set me free.”
The phoenix let out a low croon, and Sylvie patted its head. “It’s time, Beatrice. We are ready.”
Jasper picked her up and carried her to the platform, where he laid her down. Trixie settled the phoenix on her aunt’s chest. The bird draped his wings over the woman’s sides and rested his head in the crook of her chin.
“What happens now?” Elijah asked. It was the oddest funeral he had ever attended.
Trixie moved to his side and laced her fingers with his. She leaned against him. “Nothing until she is gone. I don’t want to cause her any pain.”
Sylvie stared at the stars above her as she stroked the head of the phoenix.
“There. Ouranus has come for me.” She pointed with a trembling hand, and then it dropped to lay over the bird.
Far above them, a shooting star streaked across the sky.
As one, woman and phoenix both drew a deep inhale, and as the star fell, they never exhaled. Their spirits were caught by the star.
Trixie wiped a tear from her eye and handed Elijah the egg and he dropped it into his pocket. Then, she began stripping off her clothing.
He was frozen to the spot as she passed over her jacket and blouse, not sure if he should look away or try to cover her back up. “What are you doing? My uncle can see you. I can see you.”
She pulled off her boots and stockings before undoing the buttons on her skirt. “I need to perform the ceremony and it is traditional to do it with my human form naked. If you were true gentlemen, you would turn around.”
Jasper turned and looked out over the valley, but his shoulders heaved in silent laughter.
Trixie was down to her chemise and corset before Elijah turned his back. He was a gentleman, but he was also her mate. He peeked. How could he not?
“I’m ready. Could you pass me the egg please?” she asked.
Elijah fumbled in his pocket for the smooth object and held it out behind his back.
Warm fingers took it from his grasp.
“When you feel the heat, I would suggest you and your uncle move farther away. There is going to be quite the explosion.”
Elijah heard the gentle woosh first. Then flickering light lit the ground at his feet and threw his shadow over the trees as heat washed over his back.
Turning around, the funeral pyre was well alight. Trixie stood on the platform at her aunt’s feet. She had turned into a column of fire, her hair spiralling towards the sky in an upward tumble of red and orange. Her outstretched arms were pure flame, and she was a mesmerising sight as her form flickered and danced to the slight breeze.
She held the obsidian phoenix egg in one hand, and then brought her hands together to cradle it against her chest. White heat encircled the black object, and colours radiated out from its centre. Trixie’s form was painted in rings that went from white to yellow, through shades of orange to red that reminded Elijah of the changing colours of autumnal leaves.
It reminded him of a tree. In particular, the Ravensblood and its fiery-hued leaves.
Jasper grabbed his arm. “Let’s get out of range.”
The gargoyles leapt into the sky and flew some distance away before turning to watch the dancing flames. The bonfire became a beacon, visible for miles around as the fire intensified and the flames leapt higher into the sky.
Elijah wondered if Trixie might set the entire hilltop on fire as the glowing red changed to a cheerful orange and then a near-blinding white.
When he thought he couldn’t stare at the fire anymore, an enormous flash burst across the horizon before a pillar of white flame leapt straight to the sky, like an arrow pointing to the moon.
“Trixie,” he whispered, hoping his mate endured. His heart tightened in his chest. How could anything survive such an inferno?
The pillar of flame journeyed upwards, leaving the pyre behind on the hilltop. The ball shot higher and higher until it became another star in the heavens.
The fire burned down and appeared to be a glowing red beacon. At a signal from Jasper, the gargoyles flew back to the mountaintop.
“Trixie?” Elijah couldn’t see anything through the flames and heat haze that made him squint. The platform had burned down and only embers remained, but the fire burned on. Then, a flame detached itself and stepped to the grass. Flame turned to ember and then luminous scales. Trixie stood before him in her salamander form, a sinuous creature with a cascade of flames for hair.
She clutched something to her chest. When she stretched out her arms and parted her hands, she cupped a tiny phoenix chick. Its feathers were made of flames that ruffled along its small body, and a tiny crest stood upright atop its head.
“Could you fetch my clothes, please?” she asked as she shimmered before him.
Elijah gathered the pile of clothing and held out her chemise. Before his wide eyes, Trixie’s scales dissolved into her skin and she stood naked beside him.
He watched her take the chemise one-handed. “Can I hold the chick?” he asked.
She held the chick out on her palm. “He’s still hot. Make sure you stay in your Elemental form or he will burn you.”
He stretched out a large clawed gargoyle hand and his mate placed the fiery chick in his palm. The bird was like clutching an ember. Heat radiated from every part of it, even its small clawed feet.
“Will he always be like this?” He was second-guessing their decision to free the phoenix. How could it not set fire to village roofs when it was this heated?
Clothing rustled as she dressed. “He will cool off. He has only just been born.” The crackle of the fire burning down merged with the snap and rustle of buttons and fasteners being done up.
“Is there another egg in the ember?” Elijah pondered phoenix law and how they procreated.
“No, only in the joining ceremony when two phoenixes will burn to leave three eggs. This was a type of renewal ceremony, where usually the old spirit would surrender to the flames and the phoenix would be reborn to continue on. But in this case, the cleansing fire hatched the egg to join a new spirit.” Her voice trailed away in the dark.
Elijah risked turning around. Trixie was dressed, but a glow remained about her skin and her eyes were topaz jewels. Tears ran from her eyes but evaporated on her cheeks. “My aunt and the phoenix chose to return to Ouranus. Uncle will know what we have done, even with his memory wiped. It might be prudent to leave before they find us here.”
28
They stopped at the shepherd’s hut and collected Kruos before turning towards Rose’s cottage. When they landed, they found the windows blazing with light, and laughter tumbled from within.
Jasper knocked and the door was thrown open by Delens, who had a mug in his hand and half a smile on his scarred face.
“Come on in,” he said, waving the mug that wafted the rich malty aroma of beer.
Rose, Dawn, and Millie were sitting in front of the fire, sharing stories and laughing. The young maid looked much better, and her pale colour had turned to a healthier peach tone.
She jumped to her feet when she saw Kruos. “Grandfather!”
The old man embraced his granddaughter and a frozen tear slid down his cheek. “You look much improved, Millie. I have been so worried
about you.”
“There wasn’t much wrong with the girl. Like a wilted plant, she just needed one of my health tonics to perk her up,” Rose said with a wink from her spot in the armchair closest to the fire.
“You’ll not be bothered by Francis Hamilton anymore. Delens wiped his mind of any memory of you. You are free to live out your last years with Millie,” Jasper said as he went to Dawn’s side.
“Thank you. I can never repay you for what you have done,” Kruos said over the top of the girl’s head.
“We can’t change the events of the past, we can only make a better future.” Elijah tightened his hold on Trixie’s hand. He had the future to look forward to with his mate and he planned to savour every day.
“Delens has been telling me stories about Zadoc. If they are even a tiny bit true, then I do not know what my mother ever saw in him. He sounds like a hellion.” Dawn wrapped her arm around Jasper’s waist.
The chick in Trixie’s hand chirped and all eyes in the room turned to the small ball of glowing feathers.
“It hatched!” Dawn leapt to her feet and rushed to Trixie’s side. Her hand hovered over the baby phoenix. “Is it safe to touch?”
“Yes. He’s quite warm still, but the flight here cooled him off considerably.” Trixie held him out for inspection.
Dawn stroked his tiny crest and down his back. “This chick will never be held captive. Fire will be free. Just like Zadoc imagined.” She closed her eyes as tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks.
Jasper gathered her in his arms and held her close.
The ache in Elijah’s heart that mourned his father eased a little. In the end, vengeance for Julian hadn’t been the answer. Instead, he would forge a new future with Trixie. More importantly, they had learned why so many people had lost their lives. One man had been consumed by his need for revenge against the Setons all because of actions the Hamiltons had taken against Elizabeth Tudor.
They spent a companionable hour in the cosy cottage, catching everyone up on what had transpired at the mill, the house, and on the hilltop.
Kruos and Millie took their leave to head back to his cottage and, he promised, a quiet life.
Delens chose to ride to Alysblud, saying he had a task to complete on the way.
Rose promised to attend the wedding of Dawn and Jasper in a few weeks’ time. Then, she collected a paper-wrapped parcel from the sideboard. “For you. I finished the silk piece,” she said as she pressed the item into Trixie’s hands.
Elijah muttered about being treated as a baggage mule with everything he was expected to fly back to Ravenswing Manor.
Jasper slapped him on the back and grinned. “Welcome to life with a mate who can’t fly.”
The next morning, the group assembled on the lawn at Ravenswing Manor. Dawn and Jasper led the way through the maze to the centre and the majestic Ravensblood tree.
Trixie stopped before the tree and stared. “This is it! This is exactly what I wanted to paint.”
Elijah grinned. When he’d seen her painting, he’d immediately spotted the resemblance to a tree his salamander mate could never have seen. “I know. It’s like a part of you knew.”
The phoenix chick seemed to have grown overnight and now flowed over the sides of Trixie’s palm, his shimmering feathers so similar to Trixie’s scales in her Elemental form.
Dawn took her cousin’s free hand and led her to the old tree. “This is your new home now.”
Trixie lifted the phoenix up and he hopped to a branch. Little claws tapped along the length as he found a comfortable spot and shook his tail feathers to drape down.
Dawn pressed Trixie’s hand to the gnarled bark, and both women stood silent and still as they touched the old being.
“Heart, spirit, and body,” Dawn whispered.
“We are a new clan. Not Soarer or Warder, but simply Elemental,” Trixie replied.
The women embraced and then walked back to their mates.
“What did you two just do? It feels different, in here.” Jasper rubbed a hand over his chest.
“We have created true balance. It’s not about one family being torn down while another rises to power. It’s about finding a way to live harmoniously with each other. We are united. The phoenix was always meant to sit in the Ravensblood tree.” Dawn smiled and gestured to the rare bird preening his feathers.
Its fiery feathers were a perfect complement to the red and orange leaves. The bird could hide among the foliage, so seamless was its camouflage.
The ravens flocked to the top of the tree and were embers among the flames. One cawed to the newcomer, and the phoenix looked up and answered. A wave of chatter rose from the birds and then they all fell silent.
The phoenix shuffled on his branch until he reached the end tip. Then he threw back his head and sang, a joyous trilling noise unlike anything Elijah had ever heard before.
“I didn’t know they could sing.” He looked to Trixie.
Her eyes misted as she listened. “Neither did I. Perhaps only those with freedom can sing with such joy.”
Dawn smiled and leaned back in Jasper’s arms.
When the phoenix had finished his song, Delens approached Dawn with a battered book in his hand. He tapped the scarred side where his ear had been burned away. “When I saw you last night, I thought you were Verity. I hid things away where Hamilton couldn’t reach and made Verity the key. You look so much like her that it triggered the lock. I remembered where I had buried some things, before I told Alma her brother had died. I think you should read this.”
Dawn took the book and caressed the cover with one hand. “What is it?”
“Verity’s journal. After Zadoc died, she asked me to make her forget, because she couldn’t bear the pain. I refused. I said we should never forget him. But she gave me this for safekeeping. She said it was too painful to remember.”
Dawn hugged the book to her chest, then kissed his scarred cheek. “Thank you for all you did for them. Without you, this would never have been possible.”
He tapped the journal. “That’s their story. Maybe once you’ve read that, you can enlighten me as to what she saw in that ugly bugger.”
“I will read it tonight. But right now, I do believe we have a wedding to plan.” Dawn glanced to Jasper, who let out a whoop.
Elijah hugged Trixie close and whispered in her ear, “Welcome to the family.”
She laced her fingers behind his neck and met his gaze with an amused stare. “I believe we have a score to settle.”
He frowned. He didn’t remember making any bets with her. “What score?”
“You’ve seen me naked…” She arched a copper eyebrow, letting him finish the sentence in his head.
He let out his own whoop of delight and picked her up to spin her around. “Whenever you want to even that score, you only have to say the word.”
About A.W. Exley
Books and writing have always been an enormous part of my life. I survived school by hiding out in the library, with several thousand fictional characters for company. At university, I overcame the boredom of studying accountancy by squeezing in Egyptology papers and learning to read hieroglyphics.
Today, I write historical fantasy novels from my home in rural New Zealand.
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You can find me at:
www.awexley.com/
[email protected]
Also by A.W. Exley
SILENT WINGS
1. Dawn’s Promise
2. Day’s Patience
3. Dusk’s Revenge
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THE ARTIFACT HUNTERS
1. Nefertiti’s Heart
2. Hatshepsut’s Collar
2.5 The Unicorn’s Tail
3. Nero’s Fiddle
3.5 Paniha’s Taniwha
4. Moseh’s Staff
5. Nessy’s Locket
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TALES FROM DARJEE
1. Heart of the Kraken
2. Alise
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SERENITY HOUSE
1. Ella, The Slayer
2. Henry, The Gaoler
3. Alice, The Player
4. Rory, The Sleeper